corn meal fillers in large cases

eastbank

i bought a 1886 win in 40-82 in very good out side condition and ex bore and also getting 40 new cases and 260gr jacketed bullets and 320gr cast bullets with it, i bought a set of redding dies and started loading, ending up useing RL-7 with the 260gr jacketed bullets and getting 1.5" groups at 50 yards, but the cast 320gr bullets went into 4-5" at 50 yards with RL-7. after reading several older books and finding that some used a filler to fill the case and i tried it, ending up with the 320gr cast bullet with RL-7 and filling the case up to the top with corn meal and seating the bullet to the crimp groove. and it shot 1/2" groups at 50 yards. i don,t plan on shooting the rifle very much, only hunting in the early doe season with it and then only loading six shells at a time with the corn meal filler and a few 260gr jacketed bullets for back up. any one else useing a filler? mr myopic.

charliemeyer007

I have used corn meal as a filler in black powder wheel guns. Have used Kapok as filler with nitro powders in cartridge guns.

I'd be leery of shooting lots of jacketed bullets. Generally I shoot only one load in any of my firearms once I find what they like. I do have a cast bullet load for most of them for cheap trigger time or case forming.

MIKE WISKEY

cream of wheat also works well as does cotton

Ray B

I use fillers primarily when fire-forming cases. I've used corn flour, meal & grits. They all did the job of pushing the shoulder out to chamber, however the finer the grind the bigger the mess in getting the bore cleaned. some of the stuff resembled cement. Anymore I will charge the case and if less than 50% I'll stuff a wad of paper towel in to hold the powder against the primer. I'll load a 375 H&H to 38/55 levels using 4759. I haven't done any serious deer hunting with it, but for harassing the local varmints I works well, but after the rounds are loaded I take care to keep the bullets pointed up until they are loaded into the rifle.

1873man

I have used corn meal on big cartridges like that before. As long as the powder stays up next to the primer you will get increased accuracy. I like how it smells[:)]

fordsix

google pufflon

bpost

I have used cotton balls and toilet paper with equal success.

Okie743

I found that using Accurate 5744 powder did not require a filler when I went looking for accurate reduced loads in several caliber smokeless powder guns.
I always tested with recommended loads, not just rolling my own.

I never did get consistent accuracy using fillers and tested several other powders including unique. (I call unique dirt powder, bore looks like been shooting dirt, can't see thru the bore sometimes after firing unique) Some of the powders would do almost ok if the gun barrel was pointed up before slowly lowering for firing (so as to get the powder at the primer area but using a filler would not correct groups sometimes actually make the groups worse.
I never tested any black powder type rifles using 5744 but several of the reduced load smokeless calibers I tested using 5744 were in the velocity range of black powder type rifles. 223 calibers to 300 Winchester mag calibers all liked the 5744 reduced loads. Had to use small pistol primers in the 223 calibers when using around 12g of 5744 for a vel of approx. 1800-1900fps. Used regular non-mag primers in the larger calibers.

Be real careful with reduced loads and don't do a double charge.

If you are getting 1/2 inch groups with a filler I would stay with it and try not to shoot cornmeal into the wind without safety glasses. Mix in some plaster of paris with the corn meal and it will get the field mice when they eat it. (cements their intestines and constipates them) might do your eyeballs the same.

eastbank

i tapped the rear sight to the right moving the point of impact to the right,getting it too shoot center. i shot at the bottom of a soda can wedged between two rocks at 50yds and hit it both times from a bench rest with sand bags.i am amazed at the difference in the load with filler and with out filer and i did reduce the load to make up for the weight of the corn meal. i also hit the soda can with the jacketed bullet,i don,t use a filler with it. but i want to limit the amount of jacketed bullets shot because of barrel wear. i have killed deer with most of my old winchesters with cast bullets with no problems and wait for a close double lung shot. eastbank.